Up, up and away...or found on the ground?

I am often contacted by people who have found a young garden bird (or birds) sitting on the ground and looking as if they have been abandoned by their parents. This can understandably cause concern.

The first thing to say is that this is very common, and in over 95% of cases, there is no need to be worried and you should not intervene. For example, this gorgeous young robin is clearly doing very well for himself and feathering up.

Papilloma viruses in chaffinches give rise to warty growths - which have colloquially been called "tassel foot", and I think you would agree, looking at the photographs which have been kindly sent to me by David White, it is a very good descriptor.

Papilloma viruses in humans cause skin warts, which are very common but usually resolve spontaneously. In fact, I remember as a child, my Dad 'buying my warts from me' for a 5p (or maybe it was a sixpence?) - and magically they used to vanish! I think he just got his timing about right.

There are so many beautiful aspects to our farm and amazing things to be seen and I really want to be able to share the beauty with you all. So what better way to do it than by taking some lovely photographs! Problem was I didn't have a good camera, so last month I took the plunge and bought the business a 'proper' camera.

Now I don't have any skills as a photographer (and I also don't have very good eyesight) so the two factors combined were bound to produce some fairly blurred images - but HOORAH for auto-focus. I have decided to ignore the 345 different set up options and just use the autofocus button. I tried to capture some of our farm birds but rapidly realised I will l need a considerably bigger lens. So while I am saving up for that, I will share 'big views' and 'close- ups' with you!

Here is a brief comparison between the two types of Bluebells:

What started off as just bird friendly gardens has expanded to butterfly and even hedgehog friendly gardens; and now, in an attempt to help the dwindling population of UK bats, there are many people who are encouraging bats to be their garden guests.

Sadly, the numbers of hedgehogs have dwindled over the years. This decline in population is mainly due to the fragmentation of their habitats and difficulty in finding food.

However, small steps on our part will surely make the life of these tiny creatures significantly easier. There are a number of things we can do to help these gardeners' friends, such as supplying food and water, providing hedgehog habitats and creating an overall hedgehog-safe environment.